Although Pascha (Easter) for the Orthodox Catholics is not until April 27th (for the Old Calendar followers), I want to wish all of my Christian friends and fellow bloggers a very blessed Holy Saturday and a most blessed and happy Resurrection Sunday.
In the Orthodox Church, Great and Holy Saturday is the day that we contemplate our Lord’s descent into Hades, the abode of the dead. Christ defeated death from within. “He gave himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the Cross … He loosed the bonds of death” (Liturgy of St. Basil).
On Great and Holy Saturday, we meditate upon the Tomb of Jesus Christ. Unlike any ordinary tomb, it is not a place of decay, corruption and defeat. Instead it is a source of life-giving victory and freedom from the grip of death.
On this day between Jesus’ death and His Glorious Resurrection, we wait with watchful expectation, in which our tears of mourning are transformed into tears of joy. This day embodies the fullest meaning of joyful-sadness, which has been the focal point of the celebrations of Great Holy Week. The profound mystery has been penetrated, and we are able to understand it through the beautiful and poetic dialogue between Jesus and His Mother, the Theotokos, which was written by a hymnographer of the Church:
“O Weep not for me, O Mother, beholding in the sepulcher the Son whom thou hast conceived without seed in thy womb. For I shall rise and shall be glorified, and as God I shall exalt in everlasting glory those who magnify thee with faith and love.”
“O Son without beginning, in ways surpassing nature was I blessed at Thy strange birth, for I was spared all travail. But now beholding Thee, my God, a lifeless corpse, I am pierced by the sword of bitter sorrow. But arise that I may be magnified.”
“By mine own will the earth covers me, O Mother, but the gatekeepers of hell tremble as they see me, clothed in the bloodstained garment of vengeance: for on the Cross as God have I struck down mine enemies, and I shall rise again and magnify thee.”
“Let the creation rejoice exceedingly, let all those born on earth be glad: for hell, the enemy, has been despoiled. Ye women, come to meet me with sweet spices: for I am delivering Adam and Eve with all their offspring, and on the third day I shall rise again.” (Heirmos of the Ninth Ode of Matins of Holy and Great Saturday)
The icon of the Resurrection is the Descent of Christ into Hades, the place of the dead. This Icon depicts the victorious Christ, reigned in glory, trampling upon death, and seizing Adam and Eve in His hands, plucking them from the abyss of hell. This icon very clearly expresses the truths resulting from Christ’s defeat of death by His Death and Resurrection.
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